Loyola University Chicago

CLST 277-001: The World of Late Antiquity

Spring Semester 2026
Dr. Jacqueline Long

Monday, Wednesday, Friday 9:20am-10:10am
Dumbach 123

 Diocletian, portrait head c 284 from Nicomedia, Archaeological Museum of Istanbul, photo J. Long

Schedule of Reading Assignments and Topics

Reading assignments yield essential preparation for class meetings and discussions: complete the reading before the day for which a reading is listed so that you will be ready to participate fully; review it again as needed.

All details of the schedule for this class are subject to the University's Academic Calendars and Schedules.
The proposed schedule may be modified in accordance with the needs of the class and the opportunities of the semester.

Texts

M 1/12 Introduction: Entering the Roman World
W 1/14 Empire and Change in the Third Century
  • Cameron, Ch. I "Introduction"
  • Study questions
  • Accountability groups (1 grid per group, sign with all contributing members' names), prepare SQ3R Grid for documents in reading assignment for Friday 1/16, to submit by start of class meeting-time Friday 1/16; cf. SQ3R for Primary-Source Coursework for fuller explanation of the method; bonus, on the same document, please also select your group's legionary animal
F 1/16 Old-Time Religions
  • Lee, items # 1.1-14, 8.1
  • Accountability groups: SQ3R Grid of today's reading assignment due today! (done thoughtfully and written notes kept in good order, this method of reading-preparation can promote learning, reduce stress, and support successful displays of learning such as on exams; it is always recommended, whether or not it is assigned for specific credit)
  • Study questions
M 1/19 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: no classes
W 1/21 Christian Conversion in Roman Society
F 1/23 Religious Enforcement by Decius
M 1/26 The Formation of the Tetrarchy
W 1/28 Imperial Care for the Economy
F 1/30 The Great Persecution
M 2/2 Christian Polemical History: Persecuting Emperors
W 2/4 Christian Polemical History: Evidence and Spin
F 2/6 Christian Polemical History: Assessing Evidence
M 2/9 Constantine: Documentary Snapshots
W 2/11 Constantine in Context?
F 2/13 Exam I
M 2/16 The "Rhetoric" of Imperial Capitals
W 2/18 Imperial Power and Roman Religion, after Constantine
F 2/20 Junior Emperor
M 2/23 It was a Dark and Stormy Empire: Contemporary Narrative History
  • Ammianus Marcellinus, Books 14.1-15.6 (part review)
  • Accountability groups:SQ3R Grid of today's reading assignment due today!
  • Study questions
W 2/25 The Subject in Roman History
  • Ammianus Marcellinus, Books 15.5 (review); 18.4-19.9; the very last paragraph of 31.16
  • Study questions
F 2/27 Roman Society and Its Discontents
M 3/2 - Sa 3/7 Spring Break: no classes
M 3/9 Catch a Rising Star
W 3/11 Julian the Retrograde
F 3/13 A Boy's Life in Roman North Africa
M 3/16 Monnica and Women's Christianity
W 3/18 Late Antique Aesthetics and Culture
F 3/20 Swimming with Manichees
M 3/23 Exam II
W 3/25 Imperial Transitions
  • Cameron, Ch. VII "The Late Roman State"
  • Lee, items # 5.9, 5.10, 6.1
  • Study questions
F 3/27 Rome's Army
M 3/30 Bad Neighbors: Violence and Corruption in International Relations
W 4/1 The Controversial Altar of Victory
  • Symmachus, Referral 3 ("Memorial," as the Nicene & Post-Nicene Fathers call it, means to mean something closer to "Memorandum," but the actual Latin relatio was the technical term for a magistrate's letter referring some matter to the emperor's central administration for official advice)
  • Ambrose, Letter 17 and Letter 18
  • Study resources - visualization:
    • Victory, marble, between 240-190 BC, from Samothrace, now in the Louvre: in modern times the most famous image of Victory from the ancient Greek or Roman world (Wikimedia Commons, posted by Marie-Lan Nguyen)
    • pagan worship, ivory diptych of the Nicomachi and Symmachi (WikiMedia Commons, posted by user "Marsyas")
  • Study questions
Th 4/2, 4:15pm - M 4/6, 4:00pm Easter Holiday: no classes
W 4/8 Ambrose the Bishop
F 4/10 Augustine in Milan
M 4/13 Giving it up for God
W 4/15 Platonic and Desiring Christianity
F 4/17 Christians and Jews
M 4/20 Holy Places: Contact and Transcendence
W 4/22 Ambrose and Theodosius: Articulating the Powers of Church and State
F 4/24 Legacy of the Later Roman Empire
W 4/29
9:00am - 4:15pm
 Study Day.
See Loyola's Final Exam Schedule.
Sa 5/2
1:00pm - 3:00pm
 Final examination.
See Loyola's Final Exam Schedule.
Loyola University's Undergraduate Studies Catalog provides that instructors do not have authority to re-schedule final examinations under any circumstances; if your course-schedule results in your facing four (4) final exams on a single day, you may petition Assistant Dean Patricoski to have one (1) of the four re-scheduled on the authority of the College of Arts and Sciences.

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Revised 11 January 2026 by jlong1@luc.edu
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